Well, with the very first of my blog entries I break some of the promises screaming out from 'about the author' on the home page, which by the way should have been 'about the author and the blog'....well that'l have to wait.
My implied promise of humor and tomfoolery will be ignored today, but the promise of staying away from engineering will not be, will never be (couldn't do it even if I wanted to, even free unsolicited ramblings must have SOME standard, or at least your proud author thinks so!!).
SO, 'equality' and 'chivalry'; words from two different eras, two different philosophies, two different planets one might feel. But our hearts don't care much about philosophies and theories and principles and convictions; so a modern 'lady' might talk all she wants about equality but a 'gentleman' offering her his coat still makes her heart flutter and 'ladies first' is still a winning life principle for guys. See, don't get me wrong, i'm not faulting you women for this, I've always been all for 'girl power'......I'm just saying how complicated things are today, especially so in our great (read crazy) country.
Recently two things got me thinking about this; first was a statement made by Anubhav Sinha, the directer of movies like Ra.One, during his talk at TEDx, IIT BHU (sigh, here goes my credibility, but don't be fooled by the quality(or lack of it) of movies he makes, he is a good thinker and speaker). He said something to the effect of 'I don't like the term 'women empowerment', it implies that men can and should empower women and defies the very foundations of gender equality'
The second thing was a column written by the novelist Kishwar Desai in 'The Week' : 'Looking for Lancelots'. wherein she talks about her (doomed) quest for chivalry in Indian men.(please check out this link, it will improve your perspective on what I'm talking about)
So this brings us to the question 'can equality and chivalry coexist?'. This seemingly rhetoric and somewhat trivial question actually reflects the all important, ever changing issues of gender roles and gender equality. Not just an out and out Feminist, even the 'moderate modern' is forced to pause and think about this. Also, this, in a way, represents the quintessential paradox: 'equality vs special privileges or treatment'. If we find an answer to it we can move on and answer something like 'can equality and reservations coexist?' etc etc.
But here comes the tricky part, I can't answer this question (hence the 'slightly incompetent' part in my biography, that promise is not to be broken you see). And on a more serious note I don't think anyone can answer that. The most I can tell is that the answer is different for each person, so lets consider a few types: (That I don't know much about engineering does not mean I can't borrow the 'break into specific special cases and develop different theories for each of them' approach from it)
My implied promise of humor and tomfoolery will be ignored today, but the promise of staying away from engineering will not be, will never be (couldn't do it even if I wanted to, even free unsolicited ramblings must have SOME standard, or at least your proud author thinks so!!).
SO, 'equality' and 'chivalry'; words from two different eras, two different philosophies, two different planets one might feel. But our hearts don't care much about philosophies and theories and principles and convictions; so a modern 'lady' might talk all she wants about equality but a 'gentleman' offering her his coat still makes her heart flutter and 'ladies first' is still a winning life principle for guys. See, don't get me wrong, i'm not faulting you women for this, I've always been all for 'girl power'......I'm just saying how complicated things are today, especially so in our great (read crazy) country.
Recently two things got me thinking about this; first was a statement made by Anubhav Sinha, the directer of movies like Ra.One, during his talk at TEDx, IIT BHU (sigh, here goes my credibility, but don't be fooled by the quality(or lack of it) of movies he makes, he is a good thinker and speaker). He said something to the effect of 'I don't like the term 'women empowerment', it implies that men can and should empower women and defies the very foundations of gender equality'
The second thing was a column written by the novelist Kishwar Desai in 'The Week' : 'Looking for Lancelots'. wherein she talks about her (doomed) quest for chivalry in Indian men.(please check out this link, it will improve your perspective on what I'm talking about)
So this brings us to the question 'can equality and chivalry coexist?'. This seemingly rhetoric and somewhat trivial question actually reflects the all important, ever changing issues of gender roles and gender equality. Not just an out and out Feminist, even the 'moderate modern' is forced to pause and think about this. Also, this, in a way, represents the quintessential paradox: 'equality vs special privileges or treatment'. If we find an answer to it we can move on and answer something like 'can equality and reservations coexist?' etc etc.
But here comes the tricky part, I can't answer this question (hence the 'slightly incompetent' part in my biography, that promise is not to be broken you see). And on a more serious note I don't think anyone can answer that. The most I can tell is that the answer is different for each person, so lets consider a few types: (That I don't know much about engineering does not mean I can't borrow the 'break into specific special cases and develop different theories for each of them' approach from it)
- The Chauvinistic Male: No, absolutely not. Actually the question itself is redundant in this case as they don't believe in equality at all, but anyways, the very demand for equality and the present day climate supporting it has made them, well, cranky, for want of a better word. So out goes the chivalry and in comes the bitterness and meanness, and no equality or respect as the trade off too.
- The Normal Male: Here it can go both ways, some are disillusioned, some simply don't care (if they can get the girl that is). But ya, otherwise there is some discontent brewing.
- The Feminist: No, in principle at least. There is no scope for chivalry in feminism, equality precludes any special privileges.
- The Normal Female: The problem with this is that its too general a grouping, because the 'average guy' is a much more realistic concept compared to the 'average girl', as a generalization about women is a not to be made lightly. But anyways, for the sake of simplification let us assume it to be a group. (another idea imported from engineering). Here again it can go both ways, but in general women no longer expect men to be chivalrous; put out their shirts to cover puddles etc etc. And they don't look for it as the defining quality too, rather respect and being considered as equals is more important. But acts of chivalry still win points with the heart. You will be hard pressed to find a women actually spurning chivalry in the name of equality.
So what does this tell us; well the most important thing it shows us is that psychology is not a truly objective science. 'Equality' used in a sociological context is different from its use in mathematics, here it does not imply that the 'magnitude and sign' of two things are the same. What I mean to say is equality and sameness are different. When we say Man and Woman are equal we do not mean they are the same, we just say that they are to be treated with equality: equal respect, equal opportunities etc etc. Hence it does not imply in any way that being pampered and cared for in anyway contradicts a woman's right and desire for equality, which is being denied (especially in India), chivalry or not. But that is a story for another day.
Hopefully more weighty and more irreverent and more naughty and more crazy posts will follow.
